"as an Irish Senator for two terms. Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Irishman so honoured. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize: these works include ""The Tower"" (1928) and ""The Winding Stair and Other Poems"" (1929). In addition to W. B. Yeats other important early modernist poets were the American poets T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) and Ezra Pound (1885–1972). Eliot became a British citizen in 1927 but was born and"
"writers as Charles Kickham, William Carleton, and (in collaboration) Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin. The playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, noted for his epigrams, was born in Ireland. In the 20th century, Ireland produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Although not a Nobel Prize winner, James Joyce is widely considered to be one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. Joyce's 1922 novel ""Ulysses"" is considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature and his life is celebrated annually on 16"
"best known of these is Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. Beckett's poetry, while not inconsiderable, is not what he is best known for. The most significant of the second generation Modernist Irish poets who first published in the 1920s and 1930s include Brian Coffey (1905–1995), Denis Devlin (1908–1959), Thomas MacGreevy (1893–1967), Blanaid Salkeld (1880–1959), and Mary Devenport O'Neill (1879–1967). While Yeats and his followers wrote about an essentially aristocratic Gaelic Ireland, the reality was that the actual Ireland of the 1930s and 1940s was a society of small farmers and shopkeepers. Inevitably, a"
"responsible for the establishment of the literary movement known as the Celtic Revival. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923. Apart from Yeats, much of the impetus for the Celtic Revival came from the work of scholarly translators who were aiding in the discovery of both the ancient sagas and Ossianic poetry and the more recent folk song tradition in Irish. One of the most significant of these was Douglas Hyde, later the first President of Ireland, whose ""Love Songs of Connacht"" was widely admired. In the 1910s, Yeats became acquainted with the work of James Joyce, and"
"this genre in the early 21st century. In the genre of the short story, which is a form favoured by many Irish writers, the most prominent figures include Seán Ó Faoláin, Frank O'Connor and William Trevor. Well known Irish poets include Patrick Kavanagh, Thomas McCarthy, Dermot Bolger, and Nobel Prize in Literature laureates William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heaney (born in Northern Ireland but resided in Dublin). Prominent writers in the Irish language are Pádraic Ó Conaire, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Séamus Ó Grianna, and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. The history of Irish theatre begins with the expansion of the English administration"
"he became fascinated by Irish legends and the occult. These topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the 20th century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and its slow-paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the poets of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. From 1900, his poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life. In 1923, he was awarded the"
"Irish rare books and manuscripts in the Western Hemisphere. Dr. Robert K. O'Neill was appointed the first Burns Librarian and over his 26-year career assembled some of the most significant library and archival collections pertaining to the four Irish authors who have thus far been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature: William Butler Yeats (1923), George Bernard Shaw (1925), Samuel Beckett (1969), and Seamus Heaney (1995). Other notable holdings include the archives of Northern Ireland photojournalist Bobbie Hanvey, comprising more than 75,000 images not only of the paramilitary conﬂicts and daily life during the decades of ""The Troubles"" but also"
"influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and made use of Irish ""peasant folk traditions and ancient Celtic myth"" in his early poetry. Subsequently, however, he was drawn to the ""intellectually more vigorous"" poetry of John Donne, along with Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, and became one of the greatest 20th-century modernist poets. Though Yeats was an Anglo-Irish Protestant he was deeply affected by the Easter Rising of 1916 and supported the independence of Ireland. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 and was a member of the Irish Senate from 1922–28. A group of early 20th-century Irish poets worth"
"short story has proved a popular genre, with well-known practitioners including Frank O'Connor, Seán Ó Faoláin, and William Trevor. A total of four Irish writers have won the Nobel Prize for Literature – W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. After 1922 Ireland was partitioned into the independent Irish Free State, and Northern Ireland, which retained a constitutional connection to the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland has for several centuries consisted of two distinct communities, Protestant, Ulster Scots and Irish Catholics. While the Protestants majority emphasise the constitutional ties to the United Kingdom, most Catholics would prefer a"
"playwright now stands outside the gallery entrance. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. A sea change in the history of the Irish theatre came with the establishment in Dublin in 1899 of the Irish Literary Theatre by W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, George Moore and Edward Martyn. This was followed by the Irish National Theatre Society, later to become the Abbey Theatre. The history of this theatre is well documented, and its importance can be seen from the list of writers whose plays were first performed here in the early days of the 20th century. These included"
"time to preparing this material for publication as ""A Vision"" (1925). In 1924, he wrote to his publisher T. Werner Laurie, admitting: ""I dare say I delude myself in thinking this book my book of books"". In December 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, ""for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation"". He was aware of the symbolic value of an Irish winner so soon after Ireland had gained independence, and sought to highlight the fact at each available opportunity. His reply to many of"
"1950s, Clarke, returning to poetry after a long absence, turned to a much more personal style and wrote many satires on Irish society and religious practices. Irish poetic Modernism took its lead not from Yeats but from Joyce. The 1930s saw the emergence of a generation of writers who engaged in experimental writing as a matter of course. The best-known of these is Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. Beckett's poetry, while not inconsiderable, is not what he is best known for. The most significant of the second generation Modernist Irish poets who first"
"immigration in the 19th century popularised Halloween in North America. For a comparatively small place, the island of Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to world literature in all its branches, in both the Irish and English languages. The island's most widely known literary works are undoubtedly in English. Particularly famous examples of such works are those of James Joyce, Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde and Ireland's four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature; William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Three of the four Nobel prize winners were born in Dublin (Heaney being"
"in Literature in 1995 for what the Nobel committee described as ""works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"". He was on holiday in Greece with his wife when the news broke. Neither journalists nor his own children could reach him until he arrived at Dublin Airport two days later, although an Irish television camera traced him to Kalamata. Asked how he felt to have his name added to the Irish Nobel pantheon of William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett, Heaney responded: ""It's like being a little foothill at the"
"bring about a revival in Irish-language literature. Specifically, the establishment in 1925 of ""An Gúm"" (""The Project""), a Government sponsored publisher, created an outlet both for original works in Irish and for translations into the language. Since then, a number of Irish-language poets have come to prominence. These include Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910–1988), Seán Ó Ríordáin (1916–1977), Máire Mhac an tSaoi (born 1922), Michael Hartnett (born 1941), Gabriel Rosenstock (born 1949), and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (born 1952). While all these poets are influenced by the Irish poetic tradition, they have also shown the ability to assimilate influences from poetries in"
"the exception, having lived in Dublin but being born in County Londonderry), making it the birthplace of more Nobel literary laureates than any other city in the world. The Irish language has the third oldest literature in Europe (after Greek and Latin), the most significant body of written literature (both ancient and recent) of any Celtic language, as well as a strong oral tradition of legends and poetry. Poetry in Irish represents the oldest vernacular poetry in Europe, with the earliest examples dating from the 6th century. The early history of Irish visual art is generally considered to begin with"
"Well-known writers in the genre include Frank O'Connor (1903–1966) and Seán Ó Faoláin (1900–1991). Notable names straddling the late 20th and early 21st-century include John Banville, Sebastian Barry, Gerard Beirne, Dermot Bolger, Seamus Deane, Dermot Healy, Jennifer Johnston, Eugene McCabe, Patrick McCabe, John McGahern, Edna O'Brien, Colm Tóibín, William Trevor and William Wall. Writers to have emerged in the 21st-century include Claire Keegan, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Cónal Creedon, Jamie O'Neill and Keith Ridgway. Recent fiction by Irish writers has attracted attention in the neighbouring United Kingdom. Some writers have won the Booker Prize, with others being shortlisted. Among Ireland's Booker"
"join the British Navy. Sliabh Luachra was also the birthplace of the folklorist, poet, and translator Edward Walsh (1805–1850), Patrick S. Dinneen, who compiled Dineen's Dictionary, viewed as the ""bible"" of Irish language, and Tomás Rathaille, Superior General of the Presentation Brothers 1905–1925 who wrote two books of Irish poetry: ""An Spideog"" and ""An Cuaicín Draoidheachta"". This tradition of poetry continues to present day with Bernard O'Donoghue (now a lecturer in Oxford University) who won the prestigious Whitbread prize for a collection of poems in 1993/94. Professor Daniel Corkery, author of ""The Hidden Ireland"" wrote that Sliabh Luachra was the"
"John Steinbeck, ""The Heart of the Matter"" by Graham Greene and ""The African Queen"" by C. S. Forester. Other authors banned included Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Graves, Ernest Hemingway, D. H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, Thomas Mann, John Cowper Powys, Somerset Maugham and Evelyn Waugh. Irish writers who were censored included Austin Clarke, Benedict Kiely, Edna O'Brien, Kate O'Brien, Frank O'Connor and Seán Ó Faoláin. In 1950, Robert Graves described the Irish censorship laws as 'the fiercest literary censorship this side of the Iron Curtain.' The Arts Council of Ireland, an autonomous body established by the government to promote,"
"priests will soon be free to marry. To his dismay, the poet discovers that he is to be the first to suffer the consequences of this new law, but then awakens to find it was just a nightmare. In its frank treatment of sexuality and of clerical celibacy, ""Cúirt An Mheán Oíche"" is a unique document in the history of Irish poetry in either language. In Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), Irish literature in English found its first writer of real genius. Although best known for prose works like ""Gulliver's Travels"" and ""A Tale of a Tub"", Swift was a poet of"
"Ghunna, and Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill. Irish Catholics continued to receive an education in secret ""hedgeschools"", in spite of the Penal laws. A knowledge of Latin was common among the poor Irish mountaineers in the 17th century, who spoke it on special occasions, while cattle were bought and sold in Greek in the mountain market-places of Kerry. For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages. Notable Irish writers, playwrights and poets include Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Oscar Wilde, Oliver Goldsmith, James Joyce, George"
"time. At the beginning of the 20th century, theatre companies dedicated to the staging of Irish plays and the development of writers, directors and performers began to emerge, which allowed many Irish playwrights to learn their trade and establish their reputations in Ireland rather than in Britain or the United States. Following in the tradition of acclaimed practitioners, principally Oscar Wilde, Literature Nobel Prize laureates George Bernard Shaw (1925) and Samuel Beckett (1969), playwrights such as Seán O'Casey, Brian Friel, Sebastian Barry, Brendan Behan, Conor McPherson and Billy Roche have gained popular success. Other Irish playwrights of the 20th century"
"of the first writers to use the techniques of the French realist novelists in English. His novels were often controversial for their frankness. His short stories helped popularise the form among Irish authors. The persistence of traditional genres in Irish can be seen in the papers of Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin, a Kilkenny schoolteacher, merchant and diarist of the early nineteenth century. Like many other local Irish scholars at the time, he assembled a comprehensive manuscript collection of earlier Irish prose, and also wrote prose sketches himself, though these remained unpublished. James Joyce (1882–1941) is often regarded as the father of"
"though his creative period was cut short by illness. His brother Séamus Ó Grianna (1889–1969) was more prolific. This period also saw remarkable autobiographies from the remote Irish-speaking areas of the south-west – those of Tomás Ó Criomhthain (1858–1937), Peig Sayers (1873–1958) and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (1904–1950). Máirtín Ó Cadhain (1906–1970), a language activist, is generally acknowledged as the doyen (and most difficult) of modern writers in Irish, and has been compared to James Joyce. He produced short stories, two novels and some journalism. Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910–1988), Máire Mhac an tSaoi (b. 1922) and Seán Ó Ríordáin (1916–1977) were"
"musical mastery who read deeply in the classical and neo-classical poetry of the Irish language. He studied French literature as a student and this influenced his work. He translated poetry by Guillaume Apollinaire, François Villon, Jacques Prévert and Anne Hébert. His first collection of poetry was ""Tine Chnámh"" (1984). This received the Irish American Cultural Institute’s literary award and an Oireachtas prize for poetry. He subsequently published a number of other collections. In 1996 he received the Butler Award for his novel ""Ar Bhruach na Laoi"". Several plays by him have been staged. From 1989 to 2003 he wrote a"
"have been many notable Irish people throughout history. After Ireland's conversion to Christianity, Irish missionaries and scholars exerted great influence on Western Europe, and the Irish came to be seen as a nation of ""saints and scholars"". The 6th-century Irish monk and missionary Columbanus is regarded as one of the ""fathers of Europe"", followed by saints Cillian and Fergal. The scientist Robert Boyle is considered the ""father of chemistry"", and Robert Mallet one of the ""fathers of seismology"". Famous Irish writers include Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker, James Joyce, C.S. Lewis and Seamus"
"intimately bound up with the Irish language, which should be modernised and used as a vehicle of contemporary culture. This led to the publication of thousands of books and pamphlets in Irish, providing the foundation of a new literature in the coming decades. Patrick Pearse (1879–1916), teacher, barrister and revolutionary, was a pioneer of modernist literature in Irish. He was followed by, among others, Pádraic Ó Conaire (1881–1928), an individualist with a strongly European bent. One of the finest writers to emerge in Irish at the time was Seosamh Mac Grianna (1900–1990), writer of a powerful autobiography and accomplished novels,"
"three of the finest poets of that generation. Eoghan Ó Tuairisc (1919–1982), who wrote both in Irish and English, was noted for his readiness to experiment in both prose and verse. Flann O'Brien (1911–66), from Northern Ireland, published an Irish language novel ""An Béal Bocht"" under the name Myles na gCopaleen. Caitlín Maude (1941–1982) and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (b. 1952) may be seen as representatives of a new generation of poets, conscious of tradition but modernist in outlook. The best known of that generation was possibly Michael Hartnett (1941–1999), who wrote both in Irish and English, abandoning the latter altogether"
"used grammar books on the Irish Language, ""Progress in Irish"". ""An Grá agus an Gárda"" is a 1937 comedy produced at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin focusing on a complex marital situation. Two years beforehand Ní Ghráda was forced to give up her job in RTÉ when her husband, a senior Garda, was reinstated to his post. This is Ní Ghráda's 1938 translation of Peter Pan, the first in Irish. ""Manannán"" (1940) is regarded as the first science fiction book in Irish. Máiréad Ní Ghráda Máiréad Ní Ghráda (23 December 1896 – 13 June 1971) was an Irish poet, playwright,"
"Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ""Death of a Naturalist"" (1966), his first major published volume. Heaney was born in the townland of Tamniaran between Castledawson and Toomebridge, Northern Ireland. His family moved to nearby Bellaghy when he was a boy. He became a lecturer at St. Joseph's College in Belfast in the early 1960s, after attending Queen's University and began to publish poetry. He lived in Sandymount, Dublin, from 1976 until his"
"James Joyce. Two major poets are Seán Ó Ríordáin (1907–1977) and the lyricist and scholar Máire Mhac an tSaoi (b. 1922). There are many less notable figures who have produced work as well. In the first half of the 20th century the best writers were from the Gaeltacht or closely associated with it. Remarkable autobiographies from this source include ""An tOileánach"" (""The Islandman"") by Tomás Ó Criomhthain (1856–1937) and ""Fiche Bliain ag Fás"" (""Twenty Years A'Growing"") by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (1904–1950). Irish has also proved to be an excellent vehicle for scholarly work, though chiefly in such areas as Irish"
"products of Anglo-Irish literature, though written exclusively from the viewpoint of the ""big house"". In 1894 they published ""The Real Charlotte"". George Moore spent much of his early career in Paris and was one of the first writers to use the techniques of the French realist novelists in English. Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), born and educated in Ireland, spent the latter half of his life in England. His plays are distinguished for their wit, and he was also a poet. The growth of Irish cultural nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, culminating in the Gaelic Revival, had a marked"
"published his first collection in 1958 and the second in 1967. In 1998 he became the first occupant of the Ireland Chair of Poetry (virtually Ireland's Poet laureate). Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) is the most famous of the poets who came to prominence in the 1960s and won the Nobel prize in 1995. In the 1960s Heaney, Longley, Muldoon, and others, belonged to the so-called Belfast Group. Heaney in his verse translation of ""Beowulf"" (2000) uses words from his Ulster speech. A Catholic from Northern Ireland, Heaney, however, rejected his British identity and lived in the Republic of Ireland for much"